


Straightforward

by crimsonherring



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:42:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7560787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonherring/pseuds/crimsonherring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Keith’s door was ajar. It had been for a while. About as long as the others had been shut."</i>
</p>
<p>Sometimes it takes more than just a few words to get the point across.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Straightforward

The halls were empty.

Lance shuddered as he stepped passed the locked doors and nervous whispers. His chest felt tight, as if he was back in the airlock, being dragged out into empty space. 

This time, no one was there to pull him back in.

How was it that they had fallen apart so quickly? He understood the tension the first few days. Hell, he had been upset too. But when days became weeks and tension became distance? 

He was starting to doubt that things would ever go back to normal. No. They never _could_ go back. The second the truth was uncovered, Voltron was doomed to fail. Maybe it had been from the beginning. The lions choose their paladins after all.

Frustrated, Lance shook his head and continued to tread across the tiles. He couldn’t blame Keith for this. It wasn’t his fault, no matter what the others thought. No matter what he thought.

Keith’s door was ajar. It had been for a while. About as long as the others had been shut. 

They were scared. They all were. Lance couldn’t blame them, his hands had been shaking as well. He had refused to look. Refused to stare his own damn friend in the eyes because he was fucking scared. 

He might’ve been scared. He still was. 

But he was a hell of a lot more lonely, and he knew he wasn’t the only one. 

Because the filthy bastards that had spawned this fear were still out there and he would sure feel a lot better if he knew he wasn’t alone.

The stairway was poorly lit. It had been since they’d discovered the castle. Today, it only added to the feeling of foreboding in his gut. The feeling that had kept him in his room for the past week and done nothing but add to the loneliness. 

Lance swallowed and walked up the steps. Damn him if he put this off any longer. His body was shrouded in shadow and he blinked furiously in an attempt to watch his footing. 

The next floor was darker than the first. But far less lonely. At least these halls were quiet for a reason. For a moment, Lance lingered at the top of the stairs, looking for the soft glow of a light reflected against the walls. While he saw nothing, his feet carried him forward. To the end of the hall. Out of habit. Or out of instinct.

The door was cracked open, a slight stream of light spread across the floor. 

Lance stilled, his hand hovering over the doorknob. It was stupid of him, coming up here without a plan. Sure, he’d never been one to think about things before hand, but this? This was too delicate of a situation for him to even pretend he knew how to handle.

Lance shrugged off his hesitation and pushed the door open with an exaggerated flourish.

The figure sitting in front of the glass wall stiffened. Lance winced, noting the blanket draped carelessly across his shoulders. He watched the way Keith flinched away from the noise as he neared and how he turned his face to the stars, staring fixedly on nothing at all.

His throat was raw, and he didn’t know where to begin. He tried to form some sort of coherent sentence in his head, but to no avail. 

After a couple more pointless attempts at starting a conversation, Lance went with a casual ‘fuck it’ and plopped down next to him.

A couple more seconds of agonizing silence passed before Keith drew in a shaky breath and Lance nearly jumped in anticipation.

“Language.”

_What the hell?_ Lance sat for a moment, staring at him before his eyes widened and he averted his gaze to the window. “Fuck it.”

Keith laughed softly. It was shaky, and more of a breathy huff than anything, but Lance felt his chest lighten. For a second, it was as if things were alright between them, as if everything had been a misunderstanding.

“What do you want Lance?”

Moment over. He slouched down and stared at the floor, at the cracks in the tile. “I don’t really know.” Lance grimaced, rubbing at the cracks with his thumb. “No. I do. I just don’t—fuck I’m terrible at this.”

Keith shifted and his gaze hardened, “Yeah, I sort of noticed.”

Lance flinched back. His breath caught, his chest tightening and tightening with every second that went by. “I’m sorry.” he said, voice hushed.

“I know.” Keith murmured, eyes still on the stars, on their reflections in the glass, two tired kids in desperate need of a break.

“I know?” Lance laughed, though it came out wrong. “As cocky as fucking ever, Keith.”

The red paladin shrugged. “Yeah, well, apparently change is a cause for disaster.”

Lance stared at their reflections, at Keith, at the galran who sat next to him. At the way his ears flattened against his head. At the way he clutched at the blanket with clawed hands. At the way he rubbed desperately at the tears on his cheeks.

“It isn’t your fault.” Lance said.

Keith turned towards him for the first time that week. His lips curled back from his teeth, revealing a set of fangs. “Don’t spew that BS. You damn well know it is.” 

“It isn’t. You didn’t ask for galran blood. You didn’t ask-“ Lance’s voice cracked and he looked away. “You didn’t ask to be rejected by your own teammates. That part’s _our_ fault.” He narrowed his eyes and spat, venom in his words, “That part’s _my_ fault.”

Silence settled over the room. Neither of them moved, letting Lance’s words linger in the air and then, when enough time had passed, letting them sink in.

“Huh.” Keith let out a breathy laugh. “It takes that much to get you to admit you’re wrong?”

Lance snorted, looking back up at the reflections in the glass. “Well I was wrong.” he said. “You’re the same paladin you’ve always been.”

Keith raised an eyebrow and lifted a hand. “Yeah, I’ve always been purple.”

“At least it suits you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keith cried, indignant.

Lance burst out into laughter. Hell, it wasn’t even that funny, but it felt good, to have their banter back. So he laughed until his eyes watered and blurred his vision. He laughed until his chest hurt.

Soon they were both laughing in front of the stars, shoulders touching, until they forgot what they were laughing about. 

Their amusement faded, except for the occasional snicker that would nearly send them into hilarity once more.

“Thank you.”

Lance turned to stare at him, stunned. He shook his head. “No, I should’ve been there for you sooner.”

Keith smiled, ears twitching. “I’m just glad you came at all.”

They continued to sit and stare beyond the glass, taking in the emptiness of space and in turn, the fullness of the room. Lance swallowed.

“I came here because I missed you.”

If he hadn’t been so mortified, he would have laughed at the way that Keith stared at him in complete and utter disbelief. 

Lance grinned sheepishly, “Uh, yeah. And for the record, I’m attempting to make you feel better so don’t go laughing me out of the room.”

“No. That’s not it.” Keith murmured, his face nearly as red as his own. “I’m glad, I guess. I mean, I think you just lost whatever street cred you had left,” he held out a finger at Lance’s irate stuttering. “But thank you. And… I missed you too.”

If Lance thought his face was hot, it was nothing compared to when Keith’s hand brushed against his. They both stilled, but when it was obvious neither of them were going to move, Keith shifted to cover Lance’s hand with his own.

“Oh god this is really gay.”

Keith stuttered and whipped his head to the side to stare at Lance. He cleared his throat, “What the hell Lance?”

“What?” he said, voice dragged out in a whine. “It is!” Lance gulped, trying to relieve the dryness in his mouth. Despite their bickering, he couldn’t help but notice that neither of them had moved their hands. “I mean, I’m sort of gay but still!”

Gaze moving down to their joined hands, Keith bit at his lip. “I’m gay and even I can tell that you just made this really awkward.”

“You know, as much as I’d like to tell you just how shocked I am about that-“

“You just did.”

“This was not meant to become a conversation about our sexualities-“

“That’s sort of your fault.”

“You know what Keith? Go suck a dick. And it’s funny because now I know you probably will.”

Keith narrowed his eyes, yet it was obvious he was trying to hold back a laugh. “I didn’t know you were into voyeurism Lance.”

Lance’s face flushed and he coughed sharply into his shoulder. “Alright, alright, enough with all the talk of sex, room’s hot enough as it is.”

_Fuck._

Keith whistled, despite being so obviously flustered. “Damn, that was straightforward.”

“It wasn’t really straight but sure.” Lance muttered, cursing at himself to shut the fuck up because seriously?

“Lance, buddy,” Keith said, trying to stifle his laughter. “Are you alright?”

Looking up from where he had buried his face in the crook of his arm, Lance groaned. “Nope. Not alright. I’ll never be alright. I’m just really gay apparently, even though I’m only partially gay. Is that a thing? Being partially gay? Am I just gay and straight? Am I-“

He was interrupted by Keith, who was laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes.

“Hey! I’m trying to comprehend all of the crap I just spewed out and you’re _laughing_? The lack of respect in this room-“

Keith grinned and reached forward to grab a fistful of his jacket, tugging at him so that they were face-to-face. “You’re really fucking gay.”

He yanked him in and Lance’s breath caught as their lips crashed together and eyes snapped shut. Keith tilted his head slightly to avoid the awkward clash of their noses, but hell it’d be awkward either way. Lance pressed back against Keith, hands clasping around the back of his neck and fingers tangled in his hair. 

All he knew was that Keith’s lips tasted like the ocean and he was a hell of a good kisser for someone who claimed to have no experience.

When they broke apart, chests heaving and identical grins on their faces, Keith laughed, resting his hands on Lance’s waist. “I guess I’m pretty gay too.”

“We can both be gay together.” Lance said, unable to stop smiling. “Space gays, they’re coming for your empires.”

“ _Nerd_.” Keith pushed Lance away teasingly, and laughed, “You know, we should probably be sleeping right about now.”

Lance pulled the blanket out from under Keith and tossed it on the floor behind them. Ignoring Keith’s miffed cries, he plopped down on the large comforter and patted the space next to him. “Well I’m not leaving yet, so get comfy.”

Snickering, Keith complied and lay down next to him, his arm brushing against Lance’s. 

Lance fell asleep to the light of the stars and the quiet breathing of the boy sleeping next to him.

The halls were empty.

The room was full.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't mean for it to turn out with this much fluff, appreciate it while you can.
> 
> If you want to talk about Voltron stuff or ask about other Voltron fics I wanna write, check out my tumblr @legendarykids.


End file.
